Tribulation
by kyria valkyrie
Summary: Friends don't have to understand, do favors, hold hands. They don't have to care, give you courage or see you through. But they do it anyway, because they're friends. [team 7 friendship fic, sasunaru friendship]


Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters in the series, sadly…

Warnings: this is gonna be quite depressing. I kind of shocked myself when I wrote it. Then again, I was just listening to "Sadness and Loneliness" so I guess the mood was set.

No pairings this time, but maybe a little bit of SasuNaru if you close your eyes and sing "I'm a little teapot" :p

Tribulation

"…" For once, no sound was coming out of the loud-mouthed boy's lips. Konoha's number one hyperactive and noisy ninja, Uzumaki Naruto, could only stare in dejected silence as he surveyed his home.

Or at least, what was once his home. Now, only half the building was left standing, with fire still eating away at the piles of wood.

"Dobe." Sasuke gave his companion a gentle poke to the side. He would never voice it out loud, but he was actually getting worried for the blonde.

Earlier that day, Naruto had been acting pretty much normally, except his smiles had seemed a bit more forced, his laugh, a bit harsher than usual. Still, when even Sakura had noticed and asked what was wrong, the blonde had shrugged it off with an easy smile saying that he was fine.

_But you're not._ Sasuke had thought.

People in the streets had stared at Naruto more menacingly than usual, too. The blonde appeared not to notice, however—either that, or he was just pretending not to. Sasuke and Sakura had noticed though, and, in a rare display of protectiveness for their youngest teammate, both had stayed on either side of the blonde, shooting glares at anyone who continued to stare.

"Naruto," Sakura spoke softly, snapping Sasuke out of his little reverie.

"I guess I can't even go home now, huh…" the blonde said quietly.

Sasuke stared at Naruto, surprised. He'd never heard his blonde teammate sound this defeated before. Not even during all the times he'd beaten him in a spar.

Looking closer, the Uchiha could've sworn he saw something glittering in Naruto's eyes. Tears, perhaps?

But—no. Naruto's head had quickly snapped back up, as if he'd realized what he just said.

Cornflower blue was immediately hidden from sight as the blonde grinned his trademark grin, eyes squinted and smile so wide that it looked painful. "Ah, Clumsy me. Must've left the stove on again! Landlady 'baa-san is really gonna kill me this time!" he rubbed the back of his head and laughed sheepishly.

"Naruto!" Sakura suddenly felt angry at the blonde. What was wrong with him? His HOUSE had just burned down and here he was, acting as if it were the most natural thing in the world. And why did he have to smile? She could've sworn there was sadness in those blue eyes before they were immediately hidden.

"Sakura-chan worries too much! I'll be fine! Hehe…" Naruto spoke up before she could go on. He had heard the crack in her voice, and was telling her not to continue.

Sakura bit her lip before asking, "Naruto… where will you stay?"

"I'll figure it out!" was the confident reply.

"He'll stay with me." Sasuke cut in.

Both the blonde and the kunoichi stared in surprise at their teammate.

He shrugged. "I live alone, anyway…"

Naruto's face broke into the first genuine smile they'd seen all day.

"Thanks," his voice was uncharacteristically soft.

Sakura smiled and silently thanked the Uchiha. Her own mother wouldn't even let her blonde teammate within 10 meters of their house. And somehow, she couldn't help but feel glad that at least SOMEONE would offer a place for Naruto. He was her friend, after all, and no matter what, he always stood by her.

"Well," she said "I need to get home now. Don't kill each other while I'm gone!" and she smiled at both of them before turning and walking away.

"C'mon, dobe." Sasuke muttered as soon as Sakura disappeared from sight.

Naruto blinked. "Really?"

"Of course, you idiot. Didn't I say you could stay at my place?"

"Yea, but I didn't think… I mean…" the blonde blushed, at a loss for words.

A sigh. "Just come on."

"Dobe."

"Hm?"

Both boys had been walking for awhile now, and Sasuke was starting to find the silence a little unnerving.

"What's…wrong with you?"

"Eh? Nothing at all! I—"

"Cut the crap, Naruto. Something's wrong and you know it."

The blonde paused in his tracks and mumbled something unintelligible.

"What?"

"I said… today's my birthday."

Silence, and then, "So why didn't you tell us?"

Naruto looked up, surprised at the sharp edge to Sasuke's voice.

Sure enough, the Uchiha heir was looking not just a little pissed.

"I… didn't think you'd care, really. I mean, no one usually does. It just passes by like—"

And quite suddenly, he was slammed painfully into a tree. He waited a moment for his eyes to refocus, and found a pair of dark eyes staring heatedly into his own.

"what do you mean," Sasuke spat venomously, "I wouldn't care?"

Naruto swallowed hard. His throat had gone dry and he found he couldn't even speak.

Sasuke's hand was still tightly grasping on the collar of his jacket.

"Do you think that Sakura would cry for you if she didn't care? Do you think that Kakashi would make you eat vegetables if he didn't care? Do you think… I'd risk my life…. Even die for you, if I didn't care?"

And a hand reached up to ruffle messy, blonde locks.

"If I didn't care… would I offer my house to you?"

Naruto bit his lip as Sasuke released his grip and turned around. "No," he whispered, feeling a strange prickling in his eyes.

He smiled, before running to catch up with the latter.

And blue eyes widened in surprise as a warm arm draped across his shoulders, leading him to a familiar path.

"C'mon, dobe. I'll treat you to ramen."

The end

Kyaaaaah/stretches/ that sure was depressing /blink blink/ Never written anything like that before… :p ah well. There's a first time for everything, ne? Hope you liked it:D

If you want to review, cool:D If not, then I guess that's cool, too.

Ja, ne!

-kyria chan


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